PAINT IT BLACK
by Jane Eyre Rochester
Summary: she didn't seem nor on the Black Order's side, neither on the Earl's. that's what makes the exorcists careful and untrustful, and the Nohas curious and amused...[oc, pairings maybe to come...READ AND REVIEW!]CHAPTER 4 IS UP!
1. VICTORIA STATION

1. VICTORIA STATION

Allen cleaned his dark uniform from the dust. That damn akuma was taking him more than he had expected. Sighing, the boy stood up and moved a lock of white hair from his eyes.

The Earl's creature was laughing and screaming things that made no sense at all. "He he he he! It's useless! So very useless!!!" those words were really pissing the white haired exorcist; akumas had surely grown bolder and stupider recently, level 1 above all.

With a quick and precise gesture of his claw, everything was over.

Again, white locks had fallen on his eyes. Allen was really considering cutting it, or maybe tying it into a ponytail, or wearing a headband like Rabi's… but that would have been so out of character. He liked his hair like that. Maybe.

"Moyashi!" a smiling Rabi approached him.

On the younger exorcist's forehead a vein popped. Rabi… "It's ALLEN, A-L-L-E-N! Got me, Rabi?!"

The redhead waved his hand in a gesture that meant 'yes, yes', without conviction.

"Allen-kun! Rabi-kun! Are you done?" Lenalee was tying one of her pigtails, while the other surely needed fixing up as well.

As the boys nodded and looked behind her, as if looking for someone else's presence, the girl spoke, gesturing with her head to her left, as both her hands were busy. "Kanda-san is over there"

Allen moved to take a look, and yes, actually the Japanese was cleaning Mugen's blade right where Linalee had indicated.

"Wonder what the hell were all these akuma doing here" the thoughtful bookman's apprentice commented "they were like…like…too many! Level one, ok, but still, too many! How many did you kill, moy-… Allen-chan?"

Allen seemed to think of it for a second. "Don't know. 20? 30? You know I never count them, Rabi-kun."

The older boy wore a victorious smile "Yay! Then I won! It's 33 for me, Allen-chan!". Allen shook his head.

"Still, I can't find an explanation for this massive presence here; the docks of London are not that interesting, after all. Dirty and dangerous, yes, full of opium-addicted, yes, but really, what could any akuma want here?" Linalee didn't seem willing to change the subject, and Kanda, who had just joined his comrades didn't really seem in the mood for speaking. After all, Rabi was already all over him, trying to tick him off hitting him with the mini-version of his fighting hammer in random and annoying places.

"We shall go back to the HQ. Komui should be able to explain us something" Kanda managed to say throwing the lively bookman away and walking ahead of the group.

Linalee and Allen sweat-dropped. "H-hai Kanda-san…". When Kanda was pissed, it was much better for anyone to nod and do as he said.

----

River sighed, hardly making his way into the forest of papers.

Where the hell was he?!? As soon as he had found him, he would have kicked his skinny ass until he was more than willing to do all that paper work. He turned the corner of a pile of…he really didn't know what of, and kept insisting on his quest.

That was bad. That was so very bad.

Komui had learnt to use the mountains of books and paper at his advantage; they had become a place full of hiding places for whenever the man did not want anyone to find him.

What didn't make sense was, it had been Komui asking for him…sigh.

Suddenly a strong smell hit River's nostrils.

Could it be…? No, no way. Even if Komui was…was…no. He had seen him just a few hours ago. His corpse couldn't have…or could it?

Disgusted with his own train of thoughts, River decided to follow the smell.

And it turned out to be the best decision, as he found that the source of the rotten smell corresponded to the actual location of Komui-san.

The man was reading some yellow, brown stained paper.

He looked at River, and handed him the paper.

"She'll be arriving at Victoria Station at eight. I want you to go and pick her up."

"Y…yes" was all River was able to reply.

----

It was cold. Colder than in Venice, and way colder than in Rome. That was for sure.

When the hell would they come and pick her up?! The girl sighed. It would have been better if she had been given an address or something; at least moving would have kept her from freezing. Or dying because of boredom.

She was having a hard time in understanding what people told her; they talked too fast for her to fully understand every word. Or maybe she was just tired and didn't want to waste energy in listening to the useless talks that filled the air.

Sighing, she did the only thing she could think of at the moment. After all, Victoria station was quite a sight, for someone who used to live in a city built on channels and bridges. Not that she had ever been out of Venice, no, but Italian cities were sooo very different from London.

The girl grabbed her haversack and a sketchbook and a charcoal pencil, and began tracing lines on the white, rough surface. First, the curves of the roof; that reminded her of Milan's railway station. No, that was way bigger than Milan's. Then, she concentrated on the perspective; the walls, the ground…and when she was satisfied with that, details began to fill the scene she was drawing.

People of all ages, walking, sitting, waiting, with clothes of all shapes and fashions appeared on the sides of the black and white sides of the rail lines, while trains arrived and left, puffing clouds of steam.

"I was told by Komui-san that you were good at drawing. He was right." A man in his twenties told her. The girl studied him with distrust.

"I'm River. I was sent by the Black Order to pick you up…" he said smiling.

After a moment of uncertainty the girl smiled back. "Lucrezia Buonarroti" she said.

"I know." River said, grabbing her suitcase.

Yeee! I couldn't resist but making up an Italian character after all, Kanda is Japanese, Allen is English, Linalee and Komui are Chinese, Crowley is Romanian, Tiki is Portuguese…yes yes, someone Italian was definitely needed. And that's not only 'cause I'm Italian… I'll try my best to make her as less mary-sueish as possible…I swear!

What do you think about it? I would looove to read your reviews!

Ciao ciao


	2. IT'S BEEN A WHILE

TT no one reviewed…you meanie!!! I sent Kanda to look for you…bu hu hu wa ha ha ha!

Pleeease…review, uh? Please? Pretty please? Or tell me if I shouldn't go on at all XD

Ciao!

2. IT'S BEEN A WHILE

The fact that he already knew where Komui was hiding didn't save River and the Italian girl from getting lost a couple of times, before they managed to find the supervisor.

Asleep.

River went close to the man's ear, and whispered the only words that could do the trick.

"Supervisor. Linalee… is getting married…"

"Nooooooooo! Linaleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The Chinese jumped standing, a threatening glare in his eyes.

Lucrezia, who hadn't heard a word of what River said and hadnt understood what Komui-san had shouted, looked at both men questioningly. Here in London people behaved strangely…

Half asleep, the man rubbed his eyes trying to wake up; Lucrezia stared at him even more questioningly.

"I suppose he has been working a lot" she whispered admiringly to the spiky haired man who was back to her side.

River put on an enigmatic expression. "Really, it's hard to tell whether he works a lot or he does nothing at all…" Lucrezia didn't seem to understand. After all, she didn't know the supervisor. Yet.

"Lucrezia Buonarroti. How is Mr DallaCosta doing? Directing the Mediterranean section must be tiring, last time I heard from him he was rather…worn out." Komui didn't hear much from the Mediterranean, and even if some of his exorcists were sent to fight in Italy, Spain or Greece they rarely met brethren of southern Europe.

Lucrezia seemed surprised. "Supervisor…last time I heard from him…he was dead."

The mouth of the scientific section's squad leader fell. The hell??? The director of the Mediterranean section was dead and he hadn't been informed?! **Komui **hadn't told him anything?! "D-dead?" River muttered.

Lucrezia sweat dropped. "Actually it's…it's the reason why I'm here…" she paused. It had been Komui to call her through her golem radio and command her to join the European section based in London.

"During an attack. In the city of Milan. Three weeks ago. The headquarter was destroyed. All finders died. All the workers of the scientific died, too. And most of the exorcists. The Mediterranean section no longer exists."

Shock was all over River's face. An attack. In the central headquarter of the Mediterranean. In a big city like Milan. The director had died. The whole section was destroyed. And **he **hadn't been informed?!

"I thought you knew…" Lucrezia whispered, shocked.

The girl nodded. "Us exorcists, I mean, those of us who survived, were sent mostly to the Southern America section…I was the only one to be sent here. That was on your order, Mr Komui…"

"Right. Right. Good. Thank you, Lucrezia. In this packet is your new uniform. River-san will show you to your room. I expect you to be ready as soon as possible, for your first mission…" the man said, elbows on his desk and a hand on his forehead.

The girl nodded and was about to move, when the voice of a girl broke the moment of silence.

"Nii-san, Allen told me you wanted to see me" a long haired exorcist appeared from behind a huge pile of papers.

Lucrezia froze.

"Oh yes…Lucrezia, I thought you'd appreciate…" Komui began, but was interrupted.

"Lucrezia?" Linalee asked incredulous, looking at the girl, studying her.

The girl removed the hood of the long black cloak she was wearing.

She was tall. Her light brown hair, barely reaching her shoulders, was tied in two small tresses, a lot of bangs covering her forehead and her eyes.

She was very tanned, and had brown eyes. Except for the rather light colour of her hair, she looked the typical Mediterranean type.

The long black dress she was wearing was very similar to Linalee's, in the late 19th century fashion.

"Oh mio Dio!" (Oh my god) exclaimed the Italian girl after a good couple of seconds. "Linalee!"

"Lucrezia!" Linalee was smiling surprised.

The two girls hugged smiling warmly.

"Linalee! You…you are so changed!"

"Says who! Where is the long dark hair?" Linalee asked, poking the other girl on the forehead.

"Hmm… cut!" the Italian girl stuck out her tongue.

River looked at the scene, rather confused, while Komui smiled lightly.

"Hem. Supervisor? Linalee knows the Italian girl?" he asked.

Komui nodded. "It was a long time since they last met. Before I joined the order."

"Nii-san! Is Lu going to stay with us?" Linalee asked excited.

Komui nodded. "Yes! Yes Linalee! My little sister is going to be safer with another girl! I won't lose you to one of these baby exorcists friends of yours!"

Both girls sweat dropped. "May I show her to her room?" Linalee asked her brother.

"I guess River-san won't mind going back to his job. Yes, Linalee, of course you can." The Chinese man said smiling. "Lucrezia…welcome to the European section of the Black Order."


	3. OH YES KANDA, TICK ME OFF

3. OH YES KANDA, TICK ME OFF

Kanda found it annoying when he was obliged to eat his breakfast in the Black Order's canteen.

So annoying.

Very annoying.

More than annoying.

The loud chatter…all those people…

Kanda couldn't stand people at breakfast.

Ok, Kanda couldn't stand people, but he especially couldn't stand people during **his **breakfast.

And when Kanda was bothered at breakfast, he was bothered the rest of the day.

Kanda hated being bothered.

Right now, as he was coming closer and closer to the canteen door, Kanda Yuu felt he was beginning to be bothered.

The samurai sighed.

He was now about to enter the canteen; he stopped.

Wait.

He could still reconsider entering at all.

Maybe he didn't need breakfast, after all.

Was he ready to…to…face the chef?

Inner Kanda shook his head vigorously. No no, he was **never** ready to face Jerry; his comments on his long hair, on his look, on his…on him, generally…he found them bothering. And we all know Kanda hates being bothered.

Was he ready to…to…face the moyashi?

Inner Kanda shook his head vigorously, again.

No. maybe he didn't need breakfast.

His stomach growled…and a vein popped on his forehead.

The samurai breathed deeply. Ok. Breakfast was needed. But maybe, just maybe, he could manage to avoid people…he had to try.

The young man headed to Jerry.

"Waaa! Kanda-san! What may I give you this morning?"

Kanda growled. "Tea. And dango." A threatening glare was shot in the cook's direction.

Jerry froze. Kanda-san sure knew how to be unfriendly and scary. But still, he was such a handsome boy…

The boy grabbed his tray and headed to the most remote and isolated table…he ignored every greeting, every look, he ignored everyone. When the samurai reached the table, he sighed. Yes, maybe that morning having a decent breakfast in peace wasn't an unreachable dream.

He bit his dango, eyes closed, tasting and enjoying the flavour…when he opened his eyes to grab the teacup, his look was captured by something on the table. He hadn't really paid attention as to the table itself, when he had sat.

Kanda was not curious.

At all.

But Kanda stretched his arm and took the book. No. A sketchbook. No name on the cover. So, he opened the cover. Of course, not out of curiosity, but in order to find out who the owner was, and give it back to them…

On the first page were the ruins of a roman theatre, surrounded by other buildings. He had already seen it, but he couldn't remind where; he knew it was famous.

He turned the page, and he found another famous building. The Italian leaning tower…where was it…Pisa, or something. Nice sketches.

Then, a landscape. A marine landscape, with rocks and the waves crashing on them, and a sandy beach. A writing was on top. _Sardegna_. He had no idea of what that meant.

A particular hit him.

In every page, there were two persons holding hands ans standing beside the monuments or the landscapes. A girl, and a small, dark shadow, which according to the dimension of the girl probably belonged to a little boy.

"TU!!!! (you)" the scream brought Kanda back to reality. "YOU!!! What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Kanda stared at the girl. Oh, she was an exorcist. He had never seen her before.

Long bangs covered her eyes and forehead, and her hair was tied in two small tresses. She was tanned, which was weird, as summer was far.

She wore short black shorts, boots that reminded him of Rabi's, and a short pea-coat jacket with a high collar black shirt under, and a scarf. Red. A red scarf. Red. Why the hell was she wearing red?! Red was not in the uniform. Whatever.

"Hei! I'm talking to you!" she shouted at him.

Kanda kept on staring, without replying.

"Give me my book back, please" she said pointing at the book opened in Kanda's hands.

Kanda looked at the book, and then at the girl.

"No" he replied, coldly.

The girl froze. "S…scusa? (excuse me?)"

"I said no. I have no proof that the book is yours." Kanda said, back to eating his dango.

The girl snapped her hands threateningly, Kanda paying no attention at all. "And I said, please, give me my book back…" she whispered threateningly.

"Lucrezia!!!" a long haired girl arrived running. Linalee was now beside Lucrezia, panting. "I've been looking everywhere, but couldn't find it. You?" she asked. Then, she noticed the boy sitting. "Oh, good morning, Kanda-kun."

The boy nodded.

Linalee looked at the two. "Do you two know each other?" she asked.

"No." Kanda replied careless.

"If by 'know' you mean that this moron stole my sketchbook, yes, I do know him." Lucrezia replied bitterly, looking at the eating boy hastily.

"Kanda-kun, this is Lucrezia, she arrived yesterday from the former mediterranean section. Please, be nice to her…give her back the book." Linalee asked the samurai.

"Yes, Kanda-san, be nice, give me my sketchbook back." Lucrezia added.

Linalee slapped her friend lightly on the head. "Lu, be nice to Kanda-kun" she scolded her.

"But…but…"

"Yes, Lucrezia-san, be nice" Kanda snapped back.

The boy stood up, and went away with a smirk all over his face.

Breakfast bothered Kanda to no end.

But ticking other people off seemed to soothe him wonderfully.

"Linalee…who was he?" Lucrezia asked the girl, still staring at the long haired samurai who was walking away.

"I told you…he's Kanda. Kanda Yuu." Linalee replied looking at her friend.

"Kanda…" the Italian girl muttered, an evil, sparkling glare in her eyes.

"Yes…" Linalee sweat dropped.

"He's handsome." The girl stated.

"Well, I…I never looked at him that way." Linalee replied, a little embarassed.

"He's really handsome."

"I guess he is…"

"I want him." Lucrezia stated.

The Chinese exorcist's eyes widened in shock. "You…whaaaaat?!"

Lucrezia didn't seem to listen to her friend. "Oh yes I want him!" she opened her haversack and after hiding the sketchbook Kanda had found in it, she grabbed another one and a pencil, and began heading to the exit of the canteen.

"What…what are you doing?" Linalee asked, not understanding what was going on.

"Kanda is handsome" Lucrezia repeated, annoyed that Linalee didn't understand.

"Ok, Lu, and?" the exorcist really didn't understand.

"Lina, I'll miss him if you keep on holding me back." Lucrezia exclaimed exasperated.

"Miss him?"

"Linalee. He's handsome. He's available. And he's handsome. And I want him in my sketch collection." Lucrezia spoke as if she was talking to a child, and this pissed Linalee of.

She was weird. She had always been weird. Komui had called her an aesthete.

Kanda posing for a sketch?

That would sure be funny!

"Run, Lu, or else you'll miss him!!!" she laughed, and waved at her friend who replied with a thumb up, running behind the boy.


	4. FALLING ON YOU

4. FALLING ON YOU

The dusty smell of the library filled his lungs, while he was struggling to keep his eyes open. No, that heavy scent of dust, paper and age did not bother him; in fact, he found it rather reassuring. He had always felt at ease between books.

The low light and the warmth of the main chimney, in which proximity the boy was sitting, were really of no help.

He was falling asleep.

The red haired young man regained consciousness just the few seconds necessary to take a quick look around in order to prevent the old panda from storming in and breaking his spine with a German suplex.

The library, deserted most of the time, was the place in which Rabi, the young Bookman heir, had his best naps. Oh yeah.

Basking in the warmth of the chimney and in the embrace of sleep, Rabi was sure that nothing was going to disturb his nap. In fact, the old panda was not in sight. No one could make him leave the couch. No one. Rabi was sure of that.

That was, until he felt an unknown presence. He heard steps, the rolling of the high stairs, books moving, and pages turning.

Now, hearing someone flipping through book pages was most certainly anything but uncommon in a library; but Rabi didn't think alike.

He perfectly knew the steps of each and every soul who entered the library, even if by chance or occasionally.

And those steps were unknown to the young exorcist.

He rubbed his uncovered eye, ran a hand through his messy hair, and stood up, heading silently to the source of the light noise.

Rabi walked through the maze of the huge shelves of the Black Order's library, passing section after section, but spotting no one anywhere.

Aha! There they were! The bookman's apprentice ran towards the 'Contemporary literature' section. He was sure, whomever was in the library was there.

As soon as he stopped in the middle of the section's lane and he cleared his view, Rabi felt it.

The strike.

Two legs such as these couldn't belong to anyone but to a young woman with a beautiful face.

Almost daydreaming, the boy moved closer; wait! Need to check, in order to prevent unwanted events to…ok. no, these weren't Linalee's legs. Phew, he had already felt the weight of Komui's breath on his neck…

He still couldn't see the girl's face, but he didn't really mind, busy in studying the view of her legs. Long and tanned. Too bad she was wearing shorts and not a skirt…being on top of the stair as she was, he could have peeked under and…awwww! Rabi almost giggled as he blushed like a schoolgirl.

The girl hadn't noticed him yet; she seemed absorbed in the book's content.

Sighing, she put the huge art book back in the shelf, and moved to take the next one, when she sneezed, loosing the grip on the heavy book that began his downfall.

"No no no no no" she exclaimed quickly turning and moving to catch the book.

She looked down.

"Hi" Rabi greeted smiling, the fallen book in his hand.

"WAAAAAAAAA!!!" was all she managed to say loosing her balance and falling down. Now, if the book had been caught and saved by that boy, that didn't mean that for **her** falling from like, 4 meters was going to be consequence-less.

Rabi wasn't sure whether to catch her or to run away; being caught staring at a lady's legs like that was surely going to cost him at least a slap. And he knew all too well how powerful indignant slaps could get.

Lucrezia touched the ground with a thud. No, wait, it wasn't ground. It was softer. She looked around, and found herself sitting rather unseemingly on top of a boy.

More precisely, on top of the boy that had scared her to death and almost made her risk her life like that.

Lucrezia looked at him straight into his eyes; well, into his eye, as the other one was covered by a patch. A patch? She studied his clothing. Oh, an exorcist. Well. That wouldn't spare him from her rage, no way!!! He had almost killed her, dammit!

Rabi didn't notice the quick change of expressions on the girl's face. He was too busy being hit strike after strike.

Lucrezia opened her mouth to begin covering the boy with insolences, but was taken aback by the radiant and warm smile of him.

"I'm Rabi" he said simply. But that seemed enough to make her blush.

Her inner self shook her head. 'Don't fall for that, Lu' "Oh, so you're Rabi. You are Rabi, and you almost killed me."

Rabi smirked, and she couldn't help but think he was as handsome as Kanda-san. This reminded her, she still hadn't managed to get Kanda-san to pose for a sketch. If the stoic Japanese boy kept on like this, she would have had no other options but to steal him. Yes. **Steal** him. Tie him up and… wait. That would be a little…a little uncivilised.

Lucrezia, don't lose your focus. You must focus on this Rabi boy here, and make him pay for what he almost did!

Rabi kept on smiling. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to scare you...uhm…"

"…Lucrezia" the girl said, cursing herself for having spat out her name like that instead of a thousand bad words.

Rabi put a finger on the girl's lips. The girl shivered and blushed like mad. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?" she squeaked pushing him away.

Rabi showed her the finger sweat dropping; it was dirtied with red. Blood?

"Oh…I must have bitten my lip while falling…" she muttered, cleaning her lip with a handkerchief "…which reminds me that I must thank you for falling, Rabi-san…."

"Rabi-kun, or just Rabi, Lu-chan" he interrupted her, still smiling

"Ok, Rabi-kun…ehi! What did you call me?!?" a red blush was all over her face.

"Lu-chan, sounds so cute to me."

"…" Lucrezia gave up.


End file.
